Hold you for the last time
by TheHopelessRomantic24
Summary: It was odd to find Hermione Granger sobbing, even odder to find Draco Malfoy looking like an empty shell.


_**Another one shot while battling writers block. **_

It was a very rare occurrence to see Hermione Granger cry in public. She was strong, especially after losing so many friends in the war, so seeing her sob was enough to make you pinch yourself. Luckily for Hermione, and everybody else in the castle, she was sobbing in a place where only a handful of people knew the password. The heads dormitory. She was curled in a foetal position at the end of a sofa, sobbing into her arms unable to pull herself together enough to get to her bedroom. Her sobbing was so uncontrollable that she had been sat like this for 2 hours, and if anything she had gotten worse. She had missed dinner, she had missed rounds but honestly they were the last thing in her mind at the moment.

Unfortunately the reason Hermione was crying decided to make an appearance through the portrait hole. When he saw her sobbing he just stood there until the portrait slammed shut causing her to jump up knowing who had just entered. She stood facing him, looking into his molten silver eyes that were staring at her, almost penetrating her soul. She looked rumpled, her uniform was creased and her face was a little blotchy, but she didn't look bad, Hermione could never look bad. She looked at him, ignoring the pain showing in his face, she seemed almost defiant at what he seemed to be suffering, but her eyes showed the agony that was tearing at her soul.

"Hermione..."he whispered, his voice cracking. The usual silkiness and sneer had gone and had been replaced by desperation and pure agony. It was the wrong thing to do. Something seemed to snap, the agony in her eyes disappeared and she left, striding out of the portrait hole leaving Draco Malfoy standing in the middle of the common room staring after her.

Draco waited for her all night, seated on the same sofa Hermione had sobbed on, but she never came back. Although he knew that she had probably gone to Weaselette and was sleeping in Gryffindor tower, his stomach still felt like it was a tornado and horrible thoughts like "what if she's in the hospital wing" kept creeping into his head and taking root. His hair was messed up, laying over his face and every direction from having his hands run through it every few minutes. His tie had been tugged away from his collar and his usual composed appearance had left with Hermione. Soon he realised that it was time for breakfast and left not bothering to fix his hair, shower or even changed his shirt.

He reached the great hall and walked over to the Slytherin table, avoiding looking at the Gryffindors for fear of the worst but when he finally managed to look up he saw her, sat next to Weaselette. She looked as messed up as he was. Her hair was ruffled, her clothes creased and her eyes red rimmed. He stared at her until she met his eyes and then felt his heart tearing when she looked away quicker than you could say quidditch. Why had all this happened? Why had he been such an idiot?

_The day_ _before_

"You know what Malfoy, you really are a prize winning dick and always will be" Potter yelled at him in the charms corridor.

"Wow Potter, really imaginative insults there, it's not like I've heard them hundreds of time, in hundreds of different corridors" Draco sneered back, "How does Weaselette deal with you? Honestly I think even she is above your standards and that's saying something" Loud bangs echoed around the corridor as both tried to hex each other. Potter was on the floor and Draco was slammed against a wall. Both were bleeding but Draco didn't care, he was watching Hermione who had rushed towards Potter and was supporting his with Weasley to the hospital wing. Blaise and Teddy were talking to him but he didn't hear them, he could just see the hurt look Hermione had given him while leading Potter away.

_Later_

They had argued before but nothing like this, it was mid afternoon and both had free time but it was anything but relaxing. She was shouting at him, he was shouting at her.

"You shouldn't have been baited Draco"

"So it's all my fault?"

"You should have known better"

"Have you lectured Potter? Of course you haven't because I'm always to blame, I'm always the one who should have known better, who should have ignored it aren't I?" and so it continued covering everything from,

"How could you say that to him?" to

"The Weird Sisters are a good band, you just have no taste!" Finally it came to the point they both knew was coming, but neither had wanted to reach.

"I want to go public, but you won't! Are you really that ashamed of me?" she screamed at him, tears streaming down her face.

"I'm not ashamed of you but our friends hate each other, you're a Gryffindor and your friends hate me! It's not my fault" he screamed back, they'd been through this.

"If you were a man you'd face up to this, to your parents and everything Draco! I've had enough, I feel like I'm just a toy to you, to be used in secret" she screamed and he gasped.

"You're not, you mean so much to me..." he started but was cut off

"Prove it. Tell people" but he shook his head.

"Then we're done Malfoy" She spoke quietly, toneless, the sudden use of his last name cutting into him like a knife. He closed the gap between them and slammed his lips onto hers, tightening his arms around her and holding her like she was the last breath of air in an oxygen starved world. She didn't resist him and responded desperately. They fell onto the sofa, unable to let go of each other.

A while later, Hermione went to get up but was held in place by Draco,

"Please..." he whispered, "Just let me hold you for the last time" and she did.

_Present day_

As he replayed the scene through his head he realised several things. He really had been a dick to Potter, this wasn't her fault and most importantly he hadn't told. Everything started playing through his head, the time she had punched him in third year, how beautiful she looked in the final battle, arguing when they first stared sharing a dormitory, her laughing when she tried to explain a telephone, toasting marshmallows and getting them in her hair for fun, kissing her in the library, midnight walks by the lake and waking up with her held tightly against him. He knew what he had to do; he only hoped that she would let him do it.

He looked across at the Gryffindor table to see Hermione leaving alone. He jumped and strode quickly to the doors to meet her. Every head in the hall was turned in their direction, even the teachers.

"What do you want Malfoy?" she asked her voice quiet, her eyes looking at the floor. He stood in front of her and took a deep breath.

"Something I should have done a long time ago" he answered then took her in his arms and kissed her in front of all of Hogwarts. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him back. He smiled and spun her round until they were both laughing, ignoring the gasps, shouts and screams of indignation and shock.

"I love you Hermione Granger" he whispered, not letting her go.

"I love you Draco Malfoy" she replied and suddenly he knew that everything would be alright.

_**Again its short but sometimes I think shorter stories are good because they don't get strung out, this was inspired by the song Broken Strings by James Morrison and Nelly Furtado. I hope you liked it. Please Review**_

_**Keep Smiling **_


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